When the usually lighthearted run-up to the annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game was marred by a horrific shooting at the Republican practice session last week, Capitol Hill came together for an emotional night of bipartisanship and baseball. But one thing it did not do was make the players go easy on one another.

“I did tell [Republican manager Texas Rep. Joe L. Barton] that I love him before the game, and I love him after the game, but during the game, we’re going to play to win,” Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Doyle, the Democratic manager, quipped at a pre-game press conference. With the coveted Roll Call Trophy on the line, that was exactly what they did, defeating the Republican squad, 11-2. Despite the lopsided score, though, there were standout individual performances on both sides.

Democratic Rep. Cedric L. Richmond of Louisiana is statistically one of the best players in the history of the Congressional Baseball Game. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

This story was originally published in the official game program of the 56th annual Roll Call Congressional Baseball Game, which was distributed on June 15.

So you think you’re a numbers whiz regarding all things Congress. You know how much money is in the latest appropriations bill. You know by how much Sen. Rand Paul won his last election. But do you know lawmakers’ vital statistics where it counts — on the baseball diamond?

California Rep. Jimmy Panetta slides in safe at home as GOP catcher Rep. Rodney Davis of Illinois tries to apply the tag during the the 56th annual Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park in Washington on Thursday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Democrats regained their mojo on Thursday night at Nationals Park with a commanding 11-2 victory over the Republicans at the 56th annual Congressional Baseball Game.

But with the tragic shooting during the Republicans’ team practice the day before, esprit de corps was the main game plan for both teams, dispelling for at least a night, the clouds of highly charged partisanship that has plagued both sides of the aisle this year.

Republican shortstop Rep. Ryan A. Costello of Pennsylvania dives for a ground ball during the second inning of the 56th annual Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park in Washington on Thursday. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

After a tight first couple of innings, the Democratic team blew the game open on their way to an 11-2 win Thursday at the 56th annual Congressional Baseball Game.

The day after a gunman opened fire at the Republican team’s practice session, the winning Democrats elected to put the coveted Roll Call Trophy in the office of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, who was one of five wounded in Wednesday’s attack. News that he had come out of his third surgery in two days and that his condition was improving was released just before the game started.

I’ll never forget the moment when my sense of professionalism as a journalist failed me most.

It was Jan. 25, 2012. I had raced to the corridor behind the back door of the House chamber to catch a glimpse of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona. A year had passed since a deranged lunatic fired a bullet into her brain and killed six others in a Tucson parking lot, and Giffords had just resigned her House seat.

Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Val B. Demings of Florida leave a congressional meeting about Wednesday’s shooting at the Republicans’ baseball practice in Alexandria, Va. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Don’t expect the congressional baseball practice shooting to change anything. Not the venomous partisanship that defines life at the Capitol. Not the public’s dismal opinion of the people they’ve sent to Washington. And certainly not the polarized impasse on gun control.

The torrent of words presaging something different began minutes after the shooting stopped Wednesday morning at the Republicans’ suburban practice field, with the third ranking leader of the House majority and four others grievously wounded. Across town, the Democrats halted their own early morning workout to huddle in prayer for their GOP colleagues. Groups advocating for tighter federal restrictions on firearms asserted hopefully that this time, the debate would shift in their favor.